Home // Bullmastiff Breed Standard

The date of publication of the Official Standard is 24.06.1987

Section 2.1 - Mastiff Type. With no running test.

General appearance - Powerful and harmonious build. Very strong, despite its' weight. Sound and active dog.

Characteristics - Powerful, active, reliable and very enduring.

Temperament - High spirited, alert and faithful.

Skull - skull large and square, viewed from every angle. Fair wrinkles when interested, but not when in repose. Circumference of skull may be equal to height of dog measured at the withers. Skull is broad and deep with well-filled cheeks. Pronounced (stop).

Muzzle - short. Distance from tip of nose to stop approximately one third of length from tip of nose to centre of occiput. Muzzle broad under eyes and sustaining nearly same width to end of nose. Blunt and cut off square, forming right angle with upper line of face, and at same time proportionate with skull. Underjaw broad to end.

Nose - broad with widely spreading nostrils. Rounded, neither pointed nor turned up in profile. Flews not pendulous, never hanging below level of lower jaw.

Eyes - dark or hazel. Set apart the width of muzzle with furrow between. Light or yellow eyes are highly undesirable.

Ears - V-shaped, set on high and fit to head. Set on wide at level of occiput giving square appearance to skull, which is very important. Small. Deeper in color than body. Point of ear is level with eye when alert. Rose ears highly undesirable.

Jaws/teeth - level bite is desired; slight undershot is allowed but not preferred. Canine teeth large and set wide apart. Other teeth are strong, even placed.

Neck - well arched, of moderate length, muscular; almost equal to skull in circumference.

Body - back is short and straight, but not so short as to interfere with activity. Back gives a compact carriage to a dog. Roach and sagged backs highly undesirable. Loin is wide and muscular, with fair depth of flanks. Chest is wide and deep, well let down between forelegs. Front of chest is deep.

Tail - set high. Strong at root and tapering to the tip, reaching to hocks. Carried straight or slightly curved, but not hound fashion. Crank tails (bulldog fashion) highly undesirable.

Forequarters - Forelegs powerful and straight, well boned. From the front legs are straight and set wide apart. Shoulders are sloping, powerful, muscular, not overloaded. Pasterns straight and strong.

Hindquarters - hind legs are strong and muscular, not cumbersome. Shanks are well developed and expedite. Hocks moderately bent. Cow hocks highly undesirable. Feet well arched. Cat-like, with rounded toes, pads hard. Dark toe nails desirable. Splayed feet are highly undesirable.

Movements - indicating energy and sense of purpose. When moving straight neither front nor hind legs should cross or plait. Right front and hind legs rising and falling at the same time. A backline unimpaired by powerful thrust from hindlegs denoting a balanced and harmonious movement.

Hair - short and coarse by touch. Weather resistant. Lying flat to body. Long, wavy or silky coats highly undesirable.

Color - any shade of brindle, fawn (yellow-brown) or red. Color to be pure and clear. A slight white marking on chest permissible. Other white markings undesirable. Black muzzle essential, harmonizing with black markings around eyes contributing to expression.

Size and weight - dogs 63.5-68.5 cms (25-27 ins) high at withers, bitches 61-66 cms (24-26 ins) high at withers. Dogs 50-59 kg (110-130 lbs) of weight. Bitches 41-50 kg (90-110 lbs) of weight.

Faults - any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree.

Note - Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.

Visual Explanations

1. Muzzle 2. Passage from forehead to muzzle (stop) 3. Back of head (occiput) 4. Cheek 5. Pendant 6. Neck (topline) 7. Withers 8. Rump 9. Hock 10. Pastern 11. Toes 12. Elbow 13. Forearm 14. Chest 15. Shoulder 16. Chest 17. Groin 18. Upper part of hip 19. Lower part of hip 20. Knee 21. Tail

Stop (passage from forehead to muzzle)- fairly pronounced from beneath, level from above	Smoothed stop and undeveloped flews
Incorrect set of ears	Correct set of ears
Correct standard shape of head	Too flat muzzle with overdeveloped flews
Too narrow muzzle (with no volume)	Cowhocks
Incorrect (camber) legs	Correctly set hind legs
Correctly set tail when moving (correct at the left and central picture, incorrect at the right)	On the left - elongated loin and short rump, entailing week sagged topline. On the right - too short loin entailing excessively wide set of quarters impeding activity
On the left - correct hip, a fair angle of hock, to the center - incorrect short hip and square angle of hock; on the right - incorrect angles of knee and hock	Forelegs: on the left - sagged pastern, on the center - correct set of foot, on the right - splay foot
Chest: on the left - correct depth of chest, on the right - shallow chest	Shoulder angle: on the left - incorrect (straight shoulder), on the right - good shoulder angle
Correct bite at straight and lateral look
Incorrect bite (bulldog fashion) at straight and lateral look
Incorrect bite (undershot) at straight and lateral look